Times Internet


Times Internet is an Indian digital product company which owns, operates and invests in various Internet-led products, services and technology. It is the digital arm of the Times Group, the largest media conglomerate in India. Times Internet currently owns and operates 39+ digital products across news, sports, music, video, trivia, spirituality & a suite of transaction-led market-places across real estate, personal finance, education, jobs, table reservation, etc.
Through its venture capital arm TVentures, Times Internet has invested in over 50 start-ups in the technology space such as logistics provider Delhivery, bus aggregating platform Shuttl, ed-tech platform Byju's, gaming platform MPL among others. Through another subsidiary Times Bridge, it has partnered with various global brands like Uber, Airbnb, The Weather Company etc. to build their presence in India.
Times Internet reaches over 450 million monthly visitors who collectively spend over 13 billion minutes across all its products and services.

History

1999 - 2012: Initial years

In its initial years, Times Internet primarily focused on digital media - handling the online versions of the Times Group which is owned by Sahu Jain family. Some major print publications includes Times of India, Economic Times and Navbharat Times.
Times Internet ventured into multiple new categories with mixed success. It entered social networking and e-commerce with Indiatimes but was unable to scale the business. The company achieved success with MagicBricks, an online real estate platform launched in 2006 and iDiva, a women's lifestyle portal in 2009.

2012 - 2017: Early investments

Times Internet gradually transformed from a media-led company to a technology-led company. It became a conglomerate of multiple digital products, each operating independently within the group.
Times Internet made a series of acquisitions - buying majority stakes in MensXP in 2012, Cricbuzz, Coupondunia and Dineout in 2014, Taskbucks in 2015, 'The Viral Shots’ and WillowTV in 2016. In 2016, it also forged a strategic alliance with Haptik, an AI-enabled chatbot service. The company launched its startup accelerator, TLabs in 2012 through which it invested in upcoming digital startups like Delhivery, Pratilipi etc.
Times Internet also launched multiple new digital products - Happy Trips in 2014, ETMoney and NewsPoint in 2015. Also in 2015, Times Internet launched Samayam, a website that provides news in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam languages. In association with HDFC Bank, it launched ‘Times Points HDFC Bank Debit Card’, an exclusive co-branded debit card in 2016. It also ventured into video streaming with BoxTV in 2012 but shut it down in 2016.
As its portfolio kept growing, Times Internet built Colombia, a full stack AI led ad-tech network that united all its digital products on one central platform. Through this platform, it was able to move & monetize users across its various digital properties, based on consumer interests & needs.

2017 - 2019: Continued investments

Times Internet continued to acquire and launch multiple new digital products across the consumer technology space. It launched ET Insure in February 2017, BrainBaazi in February 2018, and ET Prime in April 2018. It acquired 'House of God' in December 2017 and partnered with Tencent to invest $115 million in Gaana in February 2018.
On 28 June 2018, Times Internet acquired MX Player, the world's largest video player for $140 million.
Through Times Bridge, it entered into a partnership with home improvement startup Houzz in October 2017, and with IBM's The Weather Company in May 2018. On 13 May 2019, Times Bridge announced a partnership with Wattpad to expand the presence of the original stories platform in India.
On 20 February 2019, Times Internet re-launched MX Player as a video streaming platform, with over 100,000 hours of premium content across movies, TV and web shows etc.
On 15 April 2019, Times Internet revamped its brand identity to reflect its new ‘Everything. Everyday.’ ethos that desires to bring people closer to their interests and aspirations everyday.
On 24 April 2019, Times Internet participated as a lead investor in $35.5 million Series-A funding round of Mobile Premier League.

Subsidiaries and products

List of digital products owned and managed by Times Internet as of May 2019.
ProductDescriptionNote
Ahmedabad MirrorNews portal focused on AhmedabadNews
Bangalore MirrorNews portal focused on BengaluruNews
Ei SamayNews portal in BengaliNews
ET Business & financial news platformNews
ETimesEntertainment news portalNews
IndiatimesNews and infotainment platformNews
Maharashtra TimesNews portal in MarathiNews
Miss KyraEntertainment, lifestyle and fashion news portalNews
Navbharat TimesNews portal in HindiNews
NavGujarat SamayNews portal in GujaratiNews
NewsPointNews aggregation portalNews
Pune MirrorNews portal focused on PuneNews
TOI News portal in EnglishNews
Vijay KarnatakaNews portal in KannadaNews
SamayamInfotainment and News portal in Malayalam, Telugu, and TamilNews
AstrospeakAstrology and horoscope service
BaaziNowLive video and gaming platform
CouponDuniaDeals discovery platform
CricbuzzCricket infotainment platform
CricPlayCricket Fantasy App
Databack
Data savings service
Dineout
Table reservation service
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ETMONEYPersonal money management service
GaanaMusic streaming platform
MX PlayerVideo player and streaming platform
Get Me a Shop
Offline to online eCommerce service
Happy Trips
Travel guide & information portal
iDiva
Women's lifestyle portal
MagicBricksReal estate listings & information portal
MensXP
Men's lifestyle portal
Speaking Tree
Spirituality platform and network
TaskbucksReward based discovery platform
TechGigTechnology platform and community
Times CardLifestyle focused credit cards
Times JobsJobs listings portal
Times PrimeDigital subscriptions platform
Whats HotLocal guide to your city
WillowCricket broadcast platform
GradeupExam Preparation App